BOE makes capital project proposal official

$2.8 million project to be voted on Dec. 10

The Skaneateles board of education officially adopted a resolution to propose a $2,835,299 capital project at its Oct. 15 meeting.

The proposal will be voted on by residents of the district between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Dec. 10 at Waterman Primary School.

The items in the project are issues at the middle school/high school building that the board’s facilities committee deemed to be the most urgent for the safety and longevity of the building.

They include: roof replacements, masonry repair, window repairs, boiler room areaway drainage reconstruction and safety and security upgrades. While this project only contains a small number of items from the $22.7 million proposal that was rejected by voters last June, board members have said they plan to propose another small capital project next year and will revisit other facility needs in the future.

Assistant Superintended of Business and Finance Dale Bates said that the total comprises of $2.7 million estimated construction costs and $114.000 of capitalized interest which will keep the debt from the project from impacting the taxpayers until the 2015-16 school year.

Starting in the 2015-16 year the project’s debt is estimated to add an average of $21 to the tax bill of a house valued at $275,000 in the district, Bates said. The bond will be paid back over the course of 10 years.

Pending the public’s approval, the work is set to begin on June 26, once school is done for the summer and should be completely wrapped up by August 2015.

More information on the project can be found on the district website here

In other business:

—The board voted to accept the resignations of two employees who each worked for the district for more than 30 years. Dale Bates will retire at the end of February 2014 and Dot Pitman, assistant to both the superintendent of schools and the assistant superintendent, will retire at the end of December.